German industry orders up on investment purchases

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — German industrial orders rose 3.8 percent in June as companies bought more big-ticket goods, including those ordered at the Paris Air Show.

Sales of big capital investment goods — to be used to expand business operations — rose even more strongly, by 6.8 percent. Weak business investment has been a hallmark of the slack euro area’s economy, which shrank 0.2 percent in the second quarter.

Germany’s Economy Ministry said that the increase in orders from the month before was “substantially due among other things to the air show in Paris” where companies sealed deals on new aircraft.

Germany’s economy grew an anemic 0.1 percent in the first quarter but the central bank has predicted stronger growth when second quarter figures come out Aug. 14.